


Pineapple Pizza

by watergator



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bonding Moments, Chef Hunk, Comedy, Enemies to Lovers, Everyone agrees, Fluff, Gay, Guilt, Love, Matt Holt - Freeform, Mentions of Death?, Motorcycles, Mullets, Multi, Pineapple pizza, Pizza, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Sam Holt - Freeform, Swearing, and lance likes it, hunk wants everyone to be friends, i guess??, ill add more tags as i continue, its gonna get very gay so hold on dudes, its not heavy though, keith has slight anxiety, keith is a nervous loser haha, keith is gross, pizza dates?, sad stuff, sfw, slow burn???? i guess???, that shits disgusting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-20 17:11:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9501830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watergator/pseuds/watergator
Summary: So in the summer I started a Pizza AU but after some thought I decided I would restart and re write it all (and actually get round to finishing it this time)Keith Kogane is a smart kid who seems to make a lot of dumb mistakes in his life due to his impulsive quick tempered personality, and at first he sure that Lance is just another dumb mistake in his life, until something happens, and soon he has himself wondering if maybe his summer from hell isn't going to be so bad...





	1. Chapter 1

Keith Kogane was a smart kid, he got straight A’s and was one of those people that understood work like it was the air he breathed. But he had a disciplinary issue.  
People would tell him that he was throwing away such a golden opportunity, that he was a fool for behaving the way he did, but Keith didn’t care, he didn’t want to hear how smart he was and how great he was going to be, because somehow, he managed to erupt into some sort of rage – whether it be with students or teachers, it was what ended him getting kicked out of school – and at the time, it was like a quick relief, to finally be out of that hell hole that was High School – but when he realised, he had been kicked out of High School, he had that ‘oh shit’ kind of moment.

Keith Kogane was a smart kid, a smart kid who had made a really dumb mistake – and he was paying for it when he first walked into the small pizza parlour, starting his new job as the delivery boy, instant regret flooding him, and he realised that this was his summer – his life now. 

Never had he been more thankful that Shiro had let him learn to drive a motorcycle, because if it hadn’t been for that one small skill, maybe he hadn’t had landed this job, and if he hadn’t gotten the job, he was sure that Shiro would fly himself from the Flight Academy to personally kill Keith, after all, what were big brothers for?

It wasn’t a terrible job, it was just delivering pizzas, it was better than being cooped up at a desk or something, at least he got to go for a ride, letting the cool wind calm him down.  
But boy, was his boss the absolute worst.

His name was Iverson, and he acted like he was some sort of top ranking soldier from the way he barked orders, and Keith didn’t doubt that maybe at some point he was, from the scar over his face, running through his non-existent eye, but Keith immediately decided that his new boss was a total asshole, and had to use every inch of will power to not punch him when Iverson opened his mouth to him,

“Hey ponytail” He chuckled bitterly, and Keith spun round, eyes glaring at the new nickname he’d been given, “Got an order for you, get outta here” He handed Keith a scrappy piece of paper, it had an address on it.  
The boy shoved the paper into his jeans pocket and swiped up the three boxes of pizza on the counter, he made his way to the door, reaching out for his keys on the hook when he was stopped by Iverson’s voice,

“Hey!” He shouted, and Keith turned on his heel, “You forgot this” Iverson smirked and held up a baseball cap, waving it in the hair teasingly.

Keith bit the inside of his cheek to control himself, taking two long strides towards him to retrieve the cap, and shoved it on his head, letting his small ponytail poke out the back, earning a chuckle from his boss, much to Keith’s anger.  
He quickly left the small cramped room, swinging the door behind him, making his way to the motorcycle that was propped up on the side of the brick wall, scowling still as he put the pizzas in the container, securing it before swinging a leg, jumping up on the seat, starting it off and zooming away.

The ride was the best part of the job – getting to relieve his stress through darting in and out of traffic, letting the wind blow on his face – mostly because Iverson didn’t have a helmet for the motorcycle, but Keith didn’t mind, he liked it this way, although he was sure Shiro would have an aneurism if he found out, but he wasn’t going to. 

He arrived at the house, looking down at the paper and back at the house as he kicked the stand, retrieving the pizzas from the holder, making his way up the long drive way.  
He’d never been in this part of town before, he certainty didn’t recognise this house, and it was only because of his keen sense of direction and sign spotting that Keith had managed to find this place. 

As he walked up the dusty road, he looked up at the house, it was tall and wonky looking, with bikes scattered on the front lawn, with evidence of kids with the tricycles that were there too.

Ugh, a family home, Keith thought – he hated these types of preppy, loving family homes, with the big lawns and the white fences and the stupid family dog, called, Rocket, or something dumb like that.

He walked up to the porch, adjusted his cap and balanced the pizzas boxes on one arm, using his free one to knock on the door.

He heard the sound of people on the other side of the wall, a woman shouting something that Keith vaguely recognised as Spanish, and then a younger woman’s voice, yell back in English,  
“Will you just go get it!”

A figure moved towards the door, and Keith heard the click of the doorknob,  
“Alright, alright, jeez, relax” The voice spoke,

“Oh god” Keith felt his stomach drop.

The door opened and there he was in the doorway, his smile slightly sideways, as he fished out a couple of dollars from his pocket, and Keith perhaps wondered if he maybe wouldn’t recognise him behind the tower of pizzas he was now using to hide himself,

“So, uh, it’s $5, right?” The boy spoke, 

“Sure” Keith grumbled, quickly giving the boy the pizzas, and snatching the money from his outstretched hand, ready to make a run for it, and he thought he’d gotten with it, when he went to turn away, only to be held back from a hand on his shoulder,

“Keith? Keith Kogane?” The boy said, slightly surprised, slightly amused, 

Keith turned back to face him, a strong frown evident, 

“Hey Lance” He practically spat, 

Lance rocked back on his heels, pizza boxes leaning against his chest and he let out a breathy laugh,  
“Woah man – I mean, delivering pizzas now huh?” He smiled and Keith felt a familiar fire build up in his chest,

“I guess after getting kicked out of school you really landed on your feet” He smirked and the black haired boy, as he raised an eyebrow, but Keith still remained silent,

“Well, guess I gotta go – my sister will kill me if I get her pizza cold” The tall boy nodded, gesturing back to the inside of the house,

“Whatever” Keith mumbled, turning back before he heard Lance’s voice again,

“Have a good summer, maybe I’ll see you around”

“You’ll be dead before you come near me Sanchez” Keith grunted, and made his way back to the motorcycle.

He felt completely humiliated, of all the people, stupid idiotic Lance – Lance, the kid who was constantly annoying and loudmouthed, the one guy Keith never wanted anything to do with, now knew about his stupid, dumb job.

He made his way back to the motorcycle, kicking it a few times before quickly checking it over, because he knew that Iverson would have him murdered if he found out Keith had been abusing his property.

He adjusted his cap, then let out a low growl, before taking off, going as fast as he could, letting the cool breeze calm his fiery temper, there was no way that that tall, skinny, nagwi was going to make this nightmare of a summer any worse. 

But of course, this was Lance. And Lance was impossible. 

And Keith was sure he was ready for whatever this kid had planned. Or at least, he thought he did.


	2. Chapter 2

The following week seemed to drag on, and Keith hated that – he hated things that weren’t his pace, if it wasn’t fast and hyped then it was boring. That’s what he hated about school – it was too slow and too boring, he liked the adventure, the adrenaline, the feeling of not getting caught – that rush that pulsed through his veins and his body, that made him feel so alive. 

But this job made him feel like he was in some sort of coma and was walking towards his untimely death. Slow and boring.

He hadn’t yet met the actual owners, he was actually pretty surprised that Iverson wasn’t the owner of the place, he sure acted like he was, so when he announced that the owners were coming over for a quick expectation, Keith half expected them to be some boring, half dead, crusty old people. 

But when a dark skinned woman with flowing white hair walked through the doors, Keith was pretty taken aback.

“Mrs Allura,” Iverson stepped forward, bumping Keith with his shoulder in his path, “Glad you could make it today” He grinned, and Keith had to blink a couple of times to make sure he wasn’t just imagining Iverson’s facial muscles making that expression – that or he was having some sort of stroke. 

Allura smiled, “Yes, good to see you too Mr Iverson” She smiled, and Keith instantly recognised that she had some sort of English accent. The rest of the employers had gathered around the counter were Keith was, and they looked as equally as bored. Of course – Keith had never even spoken to them, they just worked here like he did, and he saw no point in trying to ‘bond’ with them – that just wasn’t really his thing.

Allura looked around the small room, her eyes meeting Keith’s for a second,

“I do hope that you are all working to the best of your abilities” She smiled, “I have put my trust in Mr Iverson to take care of this place whilst I attend to other business – and I do hope you give him the upmost of respect” She continued.

Iverson beamed as she talked and Keith felt like it was a kick to the nuts – a personality boost was all this guy needed, if his head got any bigger and it would explode – maybe he would have that stroke he was thinking about earlier,

“Keith!” His name was yelled and the teen seemed to blink back into reality,

“You will speak when spoken to” Iverson gritted through his teeth, and Keith blinked up at the girl who was looking directly at him, 

“Oh, uh.. Sorry, must’ve – I kinda, uh, zoned out there, sorry” Keith tripped over his words, now realising that the entire room was watching him. 

“I was just saying that you must take this job seriously if you want to keep it this summer – don’t think it’s just something to do. This is a job – a career. Please treat it like one” She spoke, her tone slightly more serious this time.

Iverson and Allura spoke a little bit more, telling everyone to go back to work and Keith just mulled around the cashier, pretending to clean the side, when he was really just flapping the cloth around to pass the time.

He did however, manage to catch the tail end of a conversation between Iverson and Allura,  
“Well, I am glad you managed to make it here today Allura, still, shame you couldn’t have stayed to meet the two new members tomorrow” Iverson spoke, and Keith was instantly interested,

“Agreed, but please, give the two newcomers my kindest regards and wish them well for the summer! I do hope they are as hardworking as you say they’ll be” Allura grinned, making her way towards the door,

“Oh trust me,” Iverson started to follow her to the door, “from what I’ve heard, Garret is an excellent chef – and that other young lad, Sanchez, is a wonder with people” 

Keith felt his stomach drop. And he maybe would’ve perhaps collapsed on the floor if he didn’t have the counter to support his body weight.

Lance. 

That stupid fucking Lance had managed to land a job here – how long was it when he last saw him, a week ago?

No way had that skinny, asshole followed him here – he vaguely recognized the name Garret, he was sure it was some kid called Hunk that was a friend of Lance’s. 

As if his summer couldn’t get worse. Maybe he would get himself fired, it wasn’t such a bad idea – mainly because getting murdered by Shiro seemed like the best option right now, a sweet, sweet release from his own personal nightmare. Or maybe Iverson could kill him, it would be the best for the both of them. The guy looked like he constantly wanted to strangle Keith anyways. 

Keith groaned quietly and prayed to a handful of God’s that the world somehow would end in some fiery explosion and he could not come in tomorrow and ever have to face the day.

But the universe had its many ways of doing him dirty, and this was just one of its tiny little jokes. And Keith hated jokes. Not as much as he hated Lance though.

That was the only thing Keith was positive about.


	3. Chapter 3

Tomorrow rolled around and Keith woke up with a killer headache, and he instantly knew that today was going to be the absolute worst.   
He peeled back the blanket and shuffled from his bed to the other side of the room, making his way to the kitchen.   
His apartment wasn’t huge, it was kinda small and cramped and shitty. But it was home – at least, it was home when Shiro was here. 

He was thankful that he had some sort of responsible adult around to actually be able to afford to pay for the place, because without Shiro paying for most of the rent, Keith was sure that his small, insignificant pay wouldn’t be half as much as he needed to help his brother out. 

It was times when he would walk into the kitchen and see his brother at the table, in the dim light, too absorbed in the paperwork of bills in front of him to even notice Keith who was now watching him from the doorframe.   
Things used to be real tough, and Keith was thankful that Shiro was strong enough to carry the both of them after tragedies and unfortunate events. At least, he knew that Shiro was strong enough for Keith’s sake. There were times he would accidently walk in on him silently crying, or he would get mad sometimes, but Shiro was an easy person and he always somehow managed to gather himself back together and assure Keith that things were going to be okay. And somehow they were. And Shiro managed to follow his dreams to flight school, and earn a steady pay when he taught classes to freshmen – and yet, Keith was still stuck at their small, ugly, apartment, no grades, no school, no friends, no life – wasting away at a small downtown Pizza Parlour, but yet, Shiro was still certain that things could work out for him. 

Fat chance.

The teen poured himself a bowl of cereal – milk first, because it was better that way, and ate it quickly, mentally preparing for the day ahead of him. 

His job was an easy two-minute walk to the bus station, and a 5-minute ride from there. It wasn’t his favourite thing in the world, having to use public transport, but he’d once been promised a bike from Shiro if he got good grades, and that seemed like an easy one-way ticket to his dream, but again, fat chance that was, so Shiro had negotiated and told him that the offer still stood as long as he managed to keep his job till the end of the summer. And Keith was damn desperate for that bike. 

Keith walked through the parlours door, 2-minutes early like he usually was and sucked in breath, telling himself inside his head,

“You can do this Keith”

But his mantra was soon blown when he heard a voice behind him,

“Kogane!” Iverson boomed, and Keith scowled, looking round to face the man, his heart dropping into his stomach when he saw who was standing next to him. 

Lance had a grin big enough to reach his ears, and Keith wished nothing more to punch him in the face and break his nose – but he didn’t. Not because it was the wrong thing to do, but because he really wanted that motorcycle Shiro had promised him. 

“Since I know you do such a good job around here, I want you to show Sanchez here the ropes, be his buddy for the day” Iverson spoke, putting a firm hand on Lance’s shoulder, and Keith smiled, only a small smile when he saw Lance stumble forward an inch at the action.

“Sure thing” Keith huffed.

He was sure that if there was some sort of God, they were defiantly doing this on purpose – why would Iverson think that he was best suited for showing Lance around, he’d only been working here for a couple of weeks, and whilst the others weren’t exactly bouncing around with excitement, he had to be the least enthusiastic in comparison. 

It was like Iverson knew somehow how much Keith loathed Lance, and how much Lance loved annoying Keith. Which only made Keith hate the both of them even more.

Iverson left the room leaving the two boys at the counter. Lance folded his arms across his chest, smirking at Keith as he busied himself with getting the cashier ready,

“So, guess we’re gonna be buddies for the day, huh?” He smiled, and Keith sucked up a breath with his nostrils, 

“Why, do you wanna hold hands or something?” Keith bit back sourly, not even bothering to look at him.

Lance gave a small laugh, “Whatever, just show me how to use this damn thing” He said, gesturing to the cashier and Keith rolled his eyes, his headache from earlier had grown a significant amount and he knew that it was only going to get worse as the day progressed.

It was soon lunch time, and if Keith thought that time dragged on usually, well when he was around Lance, it was like walking underwater with bricks tied to his feet – it was painfully slow.

Keith had managed to show Lance how to use the cashier and then they’d just swept up and cleaned counters. Keith had to keep dragging Lance back from the kitchen though because he was for some reason like a magnet to his friend Hunk, and couldn’t go half an hour without checking up on his friend.

They had just finished sweeping the floor (for the hundredth time, it was an easy way to pass time) when Iverson walked through the doors, holding a scrappy piece of paper, when Keith’s heart seemed to light up – finally an order, he could get away from here, from Lance and go for a ride.

He confidently walked up to Iverson, unusually upbeat, “I’ll be back in 10” he smiled, taking the paper before Iverson could say anything reaching for the keys off the hook and the pizzas boxes when Iverson stopped him,

“Easy there, ponytail” He spoke and Keith spun round, mood slightly altered at the stupid nickname, when he saw Lance smirk and stifle a laugh, making the teen frown,

“I said that the two of you were gonna be buddies today” Iverson said, pointing to Lance,

“Yeah and I babysat him all day – now I’m gonna deliver an order” Keith said, slightly irritated, shifting his weight onto one hip, 

“Well, I want you to take him with you” He said back.

Lance was seeming to love the little dispute until Keith said,

“But we only have one motorbike”

That’s when Lance’s smile dropped, and maybe so did his stomach.

Iverson smiled, lips curling at the ends,   
“He better hold on tight then”


	4. Chapter 4

Lance followed Keith out of the door, almost tripping over his own legs,  
“Uh, you guys were totally joking about the whole one motorbike thing, right?” He laughed nervously.

Keith looked like he was on the verge of exploding.

“Uh, Keith?” Lance said meekly, but then he saw it – there was just one motorbike. And suddenly Lance wanted to explode too.

“Just – shut up” Keith finally spoke as the engine came to life, swinging his leg over the seat and Lance gulped,

“So, uh, should I grab the helmets, or?” Lance trailed off, looking rather uneasy when Keith looked round at him, scowling,

“There are none. Get on” He said bluntly, and so, reluctantly, Lance shoved the pizza boxes in the containers and hopped on.

The engine continued to run but they weren’t moving and Lance was slightly confused.

“Put your hands around my waist” Keith spoke, practically spitting his words out, like they were poison,

“What?!” Lace spluttered, taken aback,

“Do you want to die?” Keith barked back.

Lance groaned, “Maybe” 

“Yeah well, you aren’t the only one” Keith replied back, and soon Lance had his arms wrapped around the other boys waist, his face dangerously close to his back between his shoulder blades.

He wasn’t sure if it was the fear or the embarrassment that was making Lance feel sick – but he sure that his day was now the worst.

The bike took off and the boy let out a small yelp, trying to ignore the small giggle from Keith. 

One thing that Lance knew about Keith was that he was impulsive. And he would always say “Ya know Hunk, one day he’s gonna get himself killed, not thinking things through” And he was right.

Except he never thought that he would be dragging him to his grave too.

He weaved in and out of traffic, stupidly fast that Lance had to hold in a few screams, because he was sure that there were a few close brushes with death.

Lance held on tightly – he didn’t care about being embarrassed anymore, he was more focused on keeping alive, he’d have time to lay in bed and cringe about it later as he buried his head between Keith’s shoulder blades, silently praying for it to all be over.

Never had he been more grateful to have his two feet on solid ground, but when he saw the small, growing smirk on Keith’s face, his small celebratory feeling was replaced with anger,

“What the hell was that?!” He exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air, only to get a lazy eye roll from the other teen,

“Oh please, you’re alive aren’t you?” He sighed, making his way to the pizza boxes in the back.

“Why? Was you planning on killing me? Because you sure were driving like it!” Lance frowned, and this time Keith turned round to face him,

“Jesus Christ Lance, calm down! Quit your whining because of a little speed!” Keith was now beginning to raise his own voice, and could feel his own anger bubbling in his chest,

“I don’t want to die because of you being an idiot on my first day of work thank you very much” Lance spat back, folding his arms across his chest,

“Well you’re the one that decided to take a job at this stupid place! Did you really think that it was gonna be all sunshine and daisy’s with the two of us working together – nice one” Keith was yelling now, and Lance took a step back, mouth opening and closing like a fish.

“You really think I took a job here because of you?” Lance scowled, “Dude – I applied here months ago, along with Hunk, because unlike you – Mr, Mr Impulse here – we actually had a plan, we aren’t just some high school drop outs” Lance spat and he was sure he sure Keith flinch slightly, but he didn’t let himself falter,

“So if you think that this is some sort of – of, some type of joke just to get at you – Keith god damn Kogane – then perhaps your ego is slightly inflated, because I’m taking this job to pay for my god damn college classes next fall, if that’s quite okay with you”

There was an awkward silence as Keith stood, dumfounded, the pizza boxes in his arms watching Lace catch his breath back slightly.

“You’re going to college?” Was what eventually came out of Keith’s mouth.

The boy looked a little confused – that was not the response he was expecting,  
“Uh, yeah – flight school” He nodded back,

“Oh” Keith said quietly, “Cool”

They stood there, at the foot of someone’s drive with their pizza, probably cold now, until Lance decided to speak up,

“I should probably go give it to them, after all, you did drive here”

Keith watched Lance walk up the drive to the house and deliver the pizzas. He felt bad. He’d pulled a cruel trick on someone who didn’t even care.

Of course Lance wouldn’t be as impulsive to follow Keith to his stupid job – who was he kidding? He was an idiot, it was this type of behaviour that got him kicked out of school. And Lance was right, he was just trying to get on with life, and once the summer was over he’d be off to school and Keith was nothing – he had no idea what he was doing with his life. He felt a surge of guilt in his chest, and he used the heel of his hand to palm his chest, an uncomfortable knot forming.

But little did he know that Lance felt equally bad, as he strode towards the porch of the house, eyes glancing back at the boy who he was sure he had maybe even shattered – how could he have said something like that to him? Call him an impulsive high school dropout? He couldn’t just say stuff like that – all over a stupid motorcycle. He felt an uncomfortable twisting sensation in his stomach which he quickly recognised as guilt.

Lance handed over the pizzas and took the money in exchange and made his way back to Keith, who was now scuffing his shoe on the sidewalk, looking rather sheepish.

The brown haired boy went to hop onto the bike before a hand on his shoulder stopped him,  
“Hey, Lance, sorry man” He said quietly, and there was no doubt in Lance’s mind that Keith wasn’t very good with apologies, so he smiled,

“Same”

They made their way back to the Pizza Parlour, safely this time, and Lance actually had time to feel the breeze against his skin and through his hair.

Keith parked the bike up in its normal spot, and the two of them walked back into the pizza parloud without saying a word to each other, and they managed to keep it up until the end of the day, and Keith was soon parting ways, a quick glance when their eyes met, and Lance smiled at him – a sort of awkward understanding.

And soon enough Keith was back at his small cramped apartment, alone. Which was how he liked it. Well, some of the times, and after making himself quick Mac and Cheese from the back of the fridge, he decided he was long overdue for a talk with Shiro.

So Keith wasn’t a tech wizard, but he had impressed Shiro with his old, rustic looking computer and webcam attached to the top with duct tape – it worked the same way the fancy ones did, just half the price, which Keith thought was pretty good.

The monitor started up, and he gave a small smile when he was Shiro was online.  
And soon the screen came to life with Shiro’s face,

“Keith, buddy, was just about to try and call you” The other boy smiled, there was a shuffling and it looked like he was repositioning his laptop on his desk, Keith could see the wall behind him of his dorm, littered with posters, ones like Star Wars and Star Trek and the one calendar. 

“Hey man, just got back from work” Keith said, rubbing his eyes tiredly with his knuckles and he heard a soft chuckle from Shiro,

“Oh man, they’ve been working you hard there huh?” 

Keith gave a blunt laugh, “Boy would you know it, Iverson – the guy in charge – he’s impossible Shiro, trust me, I think even you would be scared of him” 

Shiro laughed, “Aw c’mon Keith, it’s not that bad is it?” 

Keith thought for a moment. Today did start off as one of the worst days possible, what with Lance starting there and Iverson being a jerk – and just everything in general had seemed to go against him, especially the fight, but the end of the day wasn’t that bad – he didn’t even speak to Lance once they got back, which was a good thing. 

Right?

“Keith?” Came a voice over the speaker, blinking the teen back into reality,

“Oh sorry Shiro, kinda zoned out there” Keith said tiredly,

Shiro frowned and Keith hated that look – the look of concern, he didn’t need Shiro worrying about him more than he already did, all because Keith was acting a little tired, or whatever,

“Are you sure you’re okay, if you’re tired we can always talk tomorrow?” Shiro spoke, his tone was gentle and concerning but Keith waved a hand at the webcam,

“No no no, I’m fine, honestly, we can talk” 

Shiro sighed, “Alright then”

Keith went to speak, but then closed his mouth, then “Hey Shiro do you remember Lance?”

The other boy blinked, “Lance? Lance who?”

“Sanchez” The black haired teen replied back, and it was like a lightbulb had gone off in Shiro’s head and he grinned, leaning forward with his laugh,

“Yes! That kid, the tall one? The one you always used to talk about?” He grinned, and Keith felt a heat prickle under his cheeks,

“Yeah the annoying one” He said stubbornly,

Shiro rolled his eyes dramatically, “Jesus Keith, I don’t know whatever made you not like that kid, or for him to hate you but you really hold a grudge huh?” 

Keith propped his elbow on his desk and rested his chin in the palm of his hand – it wasn’t like he hated Lance for no reason, Lance asked for it – he was an annoying, pain in the ass, and Keith hated annoying pain in the asses, he wasn’t even sure when their ‘rivalry’ began or what it was even after, but Keith had tried his best to ignore, yet Lance wouldn’t leave him alone, pushing his buttons, pissing him off – doing everything he could to get Keith to hate him. He wasn’t sure why Lance liked it so much, the kid did seem to have some sort of attention disorder, so Keith had always put it down to that, but he wasn’t really sure why Lance even bothered in the first place – winding him up. 

And thus a hatred began, it was well known across the school that Lance and Keith hated each other, there were betting pools for “who do you think is gonna be the first to kill the other” and Keith was even tempted to put $5 to his own name because killing Lance would’ve been a sweet release. 

But when they fought it was never intentionally horrible, sure, Keith would threaten murder and Lance would comment on how easy it would be to follow him home and trap him in his own burning apartment – but it was never intentional. Of course Lance wouldn’t set fire to his home.

Keith couldn’t say the same about not having murderous thoughts about Lance though.

Lance was some dumb kid in high school with a big following and an even bigger ego – if he wanted to be known as one side of the most famous high school rivalry, then Keith didn’t care. His tempter usually took things too far for him to try to ignore it. 

But he’d never seen him blow up like he had today – that was something entirely new. It was weird. Lance was a chilled out kind of guy, over dramatizing things to the point it made Keith sick – but today, today was no drama, that was real. 

Still, one little personal moment didn’t change his opinion on him, he still hated him and he still wished that the earth would swallow him whole so he wouldn’t have to face work again tomorrow. 

“Doesn’t matter” Keith finally said after some thought – he didn’t want to talk about Keith, he wanted to talk to Shiro about anything other than Lance. 

He’d really had enough Lance for one day.

So the two brother spoke for what felt like forever, laughing at memories, Shiro telling Keith stories as he listened intently, and Keith kinda bitched about Iverson some more, until Keith’s eyes got tired and Shiro couldn’t keep his open anymore.

“Well, get some rest buddy” Shiro spoke quietly as he stretched his arms over his head. 

“Will do” Keith said mid yawn,

“Talk later kiddo” Shiro smiled and Keith smiled back, and soon the screen was black again, and he realised that he was once alone in his tiny cold apartment.

He switched the monitor off and headed to his room, slipping into his pyjama pants, not bothering to change out of his black t-shirt, because why wash your clothes after one day and night, right? And slipped into bed.

His blankets were kinda itchy but soon he felt his body relax, as he drifted off to sleep, putting the day behind him, defiantly not thinking about Lance, and tried to look forward for tomorrow, defiantly not thinking about Lance, a brand new day, defiantly not thinking about Lance, as he drifted into a comfortable dream like sleep.

Defiantly not thinking about Lance.


	5. Chapter 5

God was real. He’d proven it, when Keith went to work the next morning, and by miracle Iverson had decided to separate the boys; Lance working at the cashier and Keith was in the kitchens, washing up.  
Sure, the kitchens were gross and sweaty and Keith hated it, but at least he didn’t have to hold hands with Lance all day. Thank God.

So Keith skipped off the kitchens in high hopes of his day going as quickly as possible, tomorrow was Sunday, and the pizza parlour was closed on Sundays, Keith could wake up late and maybe just hang around in his pyjamas for the day - he liked the sound of that.

The small back room was what Iverson called the kitchen – it was hot and cramped, defiantly not hygienic enough for food to be made in here, but they weren’t supposed to talk about that.  
He was assigned the job of washing up, easy stuff, and Keith could actually breath, not having to worry about Lance in the front room – out of sight, out of mind, until,

“Oh, hey Keith” came a warm voice from behind him.

Keith didn’t really know Hunk too well, other than he was Lance’s best friend and he was, well – obviously a chef here. It wasn’t really too much.

“Uh, hey” Keith said in a small voice, hoping that the guy would perhaps leave him alone and just get on with his job – he didn’t really enjoy social interaction as much as Hunk was giving off,

“Man, I love it here” Hunk beamed excitedly, and Keith laughed bluntly.

So naïve. 

Keith reached for a pan and ran the faucet, dunking it under once the water was warm enough, “You do?” He questioned,

The other boy nodded, making his way to the large fridge, pulling out a handful of tomatoes – well, they were handfuls for Hunk, to Keith they would be about eight handfuls, and suddenly Keith thought to himself, do I have tiny hands? 

“Hey are you listening to me?” The boy said, his voice was loud but gentle – he was a big guy but probably didn’t even realise his own strength, like a big over excited dog, a Germen Shepard or a St Bernard’s..

“Hello? Earth to Keith?” Hunk chucked, the sound of slicing tomatoes bringing Keith back to reality, 

“Sorry man, been zoning out a lot lately” Keith said frowning, scrubbing the pan of its pizza sauce.

“Don’t worry about it” He shrugged, “Trust me, when you’ve known Lance as long as I have then you get used to his two second attention span” He chuckled, slicing through more tomatoes.

Keith wondered if Hunk had noticed the way his shoulders tensed up at the sound of Lance’s name – these two seemed super close, best friends, surely Lance had probably bitched about Keith to him, probably told him all about yesterday too.  
He went to speak, but Hunk beat him to it,

“Lance told me about yesterday” He said, a smile still on his lips, shrugging it off like it was nothing,

“Let me guess, he bitched about me?” Keith guessed, but was surprised to see Hunk shake his head,

“No not really” 

Lance was an overly dramatic person, why would he not complain to Hunk about their fight. Maybe he was looking to into it, it wasn’t really a massive fight, it was only a fight if someone got hurt. Lance had probably forgotten all about it whilst Keith still had it on his mind like the paranoid loser he was. 

“Ugh” Hunk exclaimed, wrinkling his nose, and Keith now noticed that there was now an array of different vegetables and other foods on the chopping board beside him.

“Who the heck even like pineapple on pizza?” He said disgustedly as he sliced through the fruit and Keith frowned,

“Me? And aren’t you like Hawaiian or something, shouldn’t you love it too?” Keith said, nodding towards the fruit, elbow deep in the now soapy sink,

“Samoan,” Hunk corrected, “and honestly that’s gross Keith, ew” He said shaking head in disappointment. 

Keith went back to washing up the pile of pants and pots, whilst Hunk busied himself with chopping up different types of foods, humming away quietly as he did so. At least someone was enjoying themselves, Keith thought.

They were allowed a small break, and Keith usually just hung out in the back room, trying to find a good spot for Wi-Fi, because his crappy phone didn’t have data, or whatever it was, and usually just sat there for half hour doing nothing.  
But before Keith could escape, a strong, large hand was on his shoulder, startling him slightly,

“Hey” Hunk was sporting a huge smile and Keith felt his stomach drop,

‘Please don’t ask to hang out with you, please don’t ask to hang out with you, please don’t –‘

“So me and Lance are gonna head downtown, probably grab a milkshake or something, wanna come with”

Keith felt his entire body internally cringe, he hated being put on the spot like this,  
“I don’t think Lance would really want me there” he said without thinking and he watched Hunk’s smile drop slightly,

“Aw no way man, come on, it’ll be fun, Lance will be cool about it” Hunk glowed and without even getting a word in, Keith was pulled in and pushed out the door where Lance was waiting outside, phone in his hand, scrolling through what Keith guessed was some sort of social media.

“Hey Hunk man are you ready to get your groove on?” He said, once he saw his big friend, but that was when he saw Keith and suddenly his mood had changed drastically.  
Whereas Keith was just overall moody all the time.

“Uh, buddy,” Lance said, pulling Hunk by his sleeve closer, “Why is Kogane with you?” He asked, eyes drifting from his friend to Keith who was just standing there awkwardly,

“I thought we could all hang out!” Hunk exclaimed excitedly and Keith couldn’t help but feel bad for the big guy, obviously trying to keep the peace, but this wasn’t going to work out.

“Okay fine” Lance muttered, and he looked over at Keith, “But only because Hunk wants you to tag along” 

“Trust me, I’m only coming along because of Hunk” Keith spat back.

There was a pregnant pause before Hunk clasped his hands together,  
“So who wants to go grab a pizza?”

Pizza wasn’t Keith’s favourite food, it had probably gone down his list since working there, but eating pizza in between working at a pizza place was a little too much.

Hunk however, eagerly awaited his own lunch as Keith sat slumped in their booth, wanting to be anywhere but here.  
What made it worse was that Lance was talking like Keith wasn’t even there, having full conversations with his friend, and of course, Hunk had made his best efforts to include Keith, but somehow he was always pushed back out by Lance.

Their pizza’s arrived, a lot nicer looking than what they made, the place was a lot cleaner, and Keith wondered if anyone would notice if he switched jobs and worked here, it was about a ten minute bus ride, the further away from Lance he was, the better.

“So” Hunk said, a mouth full of cheesy pizza, “Do you only like Pineapple Pizza?” He asked, gesturing to Keith’s pizza,

“That’s pretty gross” Lance commented, tucking in to his own peperoni pizza.

The black haired teen frowned, “There nothing wrong with pineapple pizza!” He exclaimed sourly,

“It’s a sin” Hunk said and Lance nodded in agreement.  
“It’s delicious and healthy” Keith said, taking a bite, “Its fruit”

Hunk’s eyes widened, “Pizza is not supposed to be healthy dude! Fruit on something so good as pizza, its morally wrong!” He laughed, and soon Lance joined in, and maybe Keith did a little too.

There was a silence as the three boys ate their meal, before Keith felt brave enough to speak up,

“So what did I miss?”

Hunk and Lance looked at each other and then back at Keith, slightly confused,  
“Huh?” Lance grunted, pizza hanging from his mouth,

“School” Keith nodded, “What did I miss when I left” 

Hunk grinned, “Oh right! Oh man you missed some golden moments” He laughed,

Lance suddenly sprung up in excitement, “Oh man, Keith, you missed Miss Harris and Mr Kaltenecker, dude, they had to take part in the school dance, it was crazy insane, who knew Miss Harris had such sweet moves?” The brown haired boy said in awe, and Keith gave a small chuckle at Miss Harris, a tiny old lady, dancing with Mr Kaltenecker, a huge fat middle aged man.

“Oh, oh! You remember Mr Smith right?” Hunk asked leaning closer, and Keith nodded, taking another slice of his pizza, 

“Turned out, he is in fact dating Miss Wright” Hunk beamed, “And Lance totally lost his $10 on that stupid betting pool” He added on and Lance’s smile dropped,

“I was sure that Mr Smith was living some sort of double life with ten girlfriends” He said sadly as he slumped back into his seat.

Keith laughed, “They were kinda cute, c’mon Lance it was obvious they were dating, didn’t you see the love eyes they gave each other all the time?” He teased and Lance rolled his eyes, trying to ignore Hunk’s laughing,

“How do you know what love eyes look like, Keith?” Lance jabbed back playfully and Keith suddenly felt very red.  
He cleared his throat and soon the laughter died down and went back to eating.

“So sounds like it was a fun last year, huh?” he hadn’t intended for it to sound so, so sad and pathetic, but he saw the look Hunk and Lance gave him – that sympathetic, sad look,

“Don’t go start feeling sorry for me, it was my fault that I got kicked out, I was an – “ Keith started rambling, picking at the pineapple chunks but was stopped by a sad voice,

“Dude, you didn’t hear did you?” Keith looked up to see Lance’s big blue sad eyes,

Keith looked round at Hunk and then back at Lance,  
“Hear what?” he asked curiously,

“Matt” He said softly, “Matt and his father – they were in some sort of accident” Lance said softly, “Dude, I can’t believe no one told you, but, Keith they’re dead”

He didn’t really know what to say at first. Matthew Holt was a kid, a year older than them, but he was practically friends with the entire High School. Everyone loved Matt – Matt holt was an icon, their school wasn’t their school without Matt. 

Shiro knew Matt. They had classes together, Matt would hang out at their apartment from time to time, they were friends. Keith had only spoken to Shiro last night, there was no way that Shiro had been told this kind of news. 

Eventually all that came out of Keith was a small, sad “Shit”

Hunk swallowed the pizza in his mouth, “Yeah man, his sister, Katie – well, everyone calls her Pidge, she was in my engineering class, really smart kid to be in such a higher class” Hunk said sadly,

“Wasn’t she just a sophomore?” Keith asked, 

“Freshman” Hunk corrected him sadly.

He had remembered her vaguely, Matt’s little baby sister, she’d joined high school just as he’d left, but it had become like a sacred vow for everyone to be like her big brother – not that she needed it, she was extremely intelligent, taking senior classes at just the age of fourteen.

Fourteen. And she’d already lost so much. Keith knew how that felt.

The mood had changed, and once the realised the time, they decided to head back, and managed to get there with a couple minutes to spare, even though Hunk was sure they were going to be late and after hearing the horror stories about Iverson, Keith had shone a whole new light about Iverson for Hunk.

But they arrived back in time, and Keith was sent out for a delivery, leaving Hunk back in the kitchen and a very bored looking Lance at the cashier.

The teen went to go start up the motorcycle, he couldn’t shake the thought of Matt out of his head. He and his father had died in some sort of accident was what Lance has told him, probably a car accident. 

Maybe today he would be extra cautious – he didn’t even have a helmet, and here he was, acting like a total idiot every time he got on the damn thing, and yet there was someone like Matt, just a year older than him, and he was gone. Leaving behind his young sister and mother; it wasn’t fair in any way possible.

That day Keith decided to keep to the speed limits, stayed in one lane instead of his usual darting in and out of traffic, because life had its miserable ways of doing you dirty – and that was what had happened to Matt and his family.  
Keith had been lucky enough to find family with Shiro – he wasn’t going to throw it away like that out of sheer stupidity. 

Maybe now was the time to stop making stupid mistakes.  
Maybe he had to begin fixing his problems instead of going headfirst into them – maybe he had to start with Lance.

So when he got home that evening, he decided to text Shiro, pulling out his phone he wrote,

“Today was better, need to talk to you later – Keith”

He fell into his couch, letting him eat him up as he stared at the blank television screen that sat in the corner of the room. He thought about watching a movie or something, but he’d seen them all. Tomorrow was his day, and for the first time in a long time he suddenly felt kinda lonely. 

So he did something impossible. He pulled up the Facebook page for Altean Pizza Service and after a few minutes of excessive scrolling, he found Lance Sanchez, and in his personal information was his number.

It took a few minutes of mentally preparing himself, but Keith finally found the courage to open up a new text message with Lance’s number at the top, typing in,

“Hey its Keith Kogane”

He didn’t know why he’d put his second name in, Lance would surely know that it was him, unless there were other Keith’s in Lance’s life – not that it mattered to him.  
He wasn’t expecting a reply so quickly, but was surprised when a text came through,

“Dude, that is some next level stalking for you to find my number” 

Keith blinked, how did Lance know that? But before Keith had time to text back, another message popped up,  
“You know, if you wanted my number, you could’ve just asked me for it ;)”

Keith groaned out loud, this was disgusting, but this was Lance. The Lance he knew in high school, what could he expect?

“Shut up” was all Keith put back, smiling to himself.

Lance sent back a bunch of little faces and symbols that he didn’t understand – emoji’s? Keith didn’t have any emoji’s on his phone so he just put a question mark back.

“So what did you want from me ponytail?” Lance said after a thousand more emoji’s and Keith frowned at the nickname, it was bad enough for Iverson to use it, he didn’t need Lance saying it otherwise all the employees would catch on and Keith would have to commit some sort of hideous crime to get them to shup up about it.

Keith realised he’d left Lance on read for some time now, and bit his lip, wondering if this was such a good idea, but he took a breath – no more stupid mistakes right? This sure sounded like a mistake, but he wanted to apologise to Lance. And he wasn’t backing out now,

“What are you doing tomorrow?”

Sent.  
Read.  
And, no reply.

Keith sat there, blinking at his little phone screen in anticipation. But the minutes ticked by, and Lance still hadn’t replied. This was far his most stupidest mistake of the day.

He dropped his phone in to his lap deflated and decided that maybe tomorrow he would have to watch The Empire Strikes Back for the hundredth time, but his plans were instantly changed when he saw his phone go off, picking it up to read one new message,

“my mama said I can come out to play :D”

Typical Lance.

Keith smiled slightly and began typing,

“It’s a date” but he stopped. No. This was not a date. This wasn’t in any way possible a date. It was an apology gathering of two people.

Keith didn’t even like Lance. He didn’t care about Lance, only enough to feel the need to perhaps buy him a burger or something and hang out with him on his day off just to apologise for something that happened two days ago.

No, this wasn’t a date.  
Was it? 

“Oh god”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!!
> 
> So I want to say real quick, thank you so much for the feedback I've retrieved so far! Its really amazing, so thank you for that:)
> 
> And also, I plan to have longer chapters from now on, i usually write around 1,000 words, but decided that I'm going to try and make them MUCH more longer, instead of writing loads of chapters and trying to squish it all in, so I'm going to make it longer than planned and i hope thats okay (: anyways i hope you've enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> Also a huge thank you for getting my one shot 'in other words' to 2,000 reads - I've never had that many people enjoy my work and I'm extremely grateful to be able to share my stuff with you guys and for you to enjoy it, so thank you so so much to everyone that read that:)
> 
> And just a quick note, my name on here has changed from angelmichelangelo to emmylisa if anyone was wondering :)   
> thanks for reading, be sure to leave a comment or leave a kudos!!
> 
> Thank you again, much love to everyone and i'll see you in the next chapter :)
> 
> Emily xx


End file.
